Teen child molester admits to groping girl at Snoqualmie facility

BY LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Published 10:04 pm, Tuesday, July 15, 2014

An 18-year-old child molester is headed to adult prison after sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a state-run juvenile detention center in Snoqualmie.

Held at Echo Glen Children’s Center following a string of sex crimes, Blake Garcia touched the girl sexually and against her will while both were in class. Garcia, who was then 17, was seen doing so and has since pleaded guilty to offenses that saw him sentenced to more than five years in state custody.

Garcia arrived at Echo Glen as a sex offender three times over. Convicted of child molestation and burglary in July 2010, the Chehalis youth was put away again a year later on other child sexual abuse-related charges.

In August, Garcia and the girl, who had turned 13 only days before, were in a co-ed class at Echo Glen when Garcia reached under her desk and grabbed her crotch forcefully. Garcia called the girl his “bitch,” and demanded oral sex.

The girl shouted and slapped Garcia, who was detained by Echo Glen staff. Garcia later claimed she’d asked him to touch her while acknowledging he knew he could face another child molestation charge if he was caught.

Days after the incident, Garcia encountered the girl on the Echo Glen campus and asked if he “could do it again.” The girl told him emphatically he could not.

Run by the Department of Social and Health Services, Echo Glen is one of two maximum security juvenile detention facilities in Washington, and the only one to accept girls. Offenders as old as 21 are housed at the facilities; juvenile offenders “age out” of the juvenile system at 21 and must be released or, if convicted as adults, transferred to the Department of Corrections.

Staff at Echo Glen attempt to create as normal an environment as possible for offenders there, DSHS spokesman John Wiley said Tuesday. That means boys and girls take classes together at the facility’s school and mix during recreational and religious activities.

“In the even that contact occurs, sanctions are applied to the youth, Child Protective Services is called, law enforcement is notified, and an evaluation of the event is completed to prevent future similar occurrences,” the spokesman said in an email.

Those policies appear to have been followed in Garcia’s case. King County Sheriff’s Office detectives were called to the facility the day of the incident, and Garcia has since faced charges in juvenile and adult court.

Earlier this month, Garcia entered a pair of guilty pleas that saw him convicted as a juvenile of second-degree child molestation and as an adult of a less-serious sex offense, communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

The unusual plea arrangement will likely see Garcia remain in juvenile detention through his 21st birthday. He’ll then be transferred to state prison to serve a two-year term for the adult offense.

The arrangement will see Garcia monitored by the Department of Corrections for three years following his release as he continues to undergo sex offender treatment, King County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Dan Donohoe said. Garcia will remain a registered sex offender.